Equal Access is an international not for profit organization (501c3), headquartered in San Francisco and working throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East. A communications for social change organization that combines the power of media with community mobilization, Equal Access creates customized communications strategies and outreach solutions that address the most critical challenges affecting people in the developing world such as women & girls’ empowerment, youth life skills & livelihoods, human rights, health and civic participation & governance.Equal Access International (EAI) places people at the center of every project. Our programs are designed to foster breakthrough solutions and normative changes that enable communities and societies to transform disempowerment and marginalization into empowerment and possibility. EAI’s mission is to create positive social change for millions of underserved people in the developing world by delivering critically needed information and education through innovative media, appropriate technology and direct community engagement. EAI addresses challenges within six key impact areas; which include; (a) Championing Women & Girls; (b) Youth Development & Life Skills Education; (c) Peacebuilding & Preventing Violent Extremism; (d) Governance & Civic Engagement; (e) Economic Development & Agriculture and (f) Global Health. Dedicated to supporting local solutions and lasting positive change, Equal Access has a lean headquarter staff of 22 and an international staff of 133 worldwide, with host country nationals comprising 96 percent of our field staff worldwide. EAI currently works in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Cambodia.
Summary of Role
The Finance and Operation Officer supports and works with the Senior Finance and Operations Officer (and Finance and Operations Manager as the case may be) in ensuring effective and accountable finance and operations systems at the Equal Access International (EAI) Country Office in Nigeria. He ensures EAI-Nigeria achieves its program objectives through the finance, administration and operational functionalities in place, which are in compliance with home office policies and local laws. The Finance and Operation Officer provides support to the Program team towards achieving this goal. The Finance and Operation Officer is based in Kano and works directly with the Senior Finance and Operations Officer.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Finance and Operations Officer works with the Senior Finance and Operations Officer to enhance appropriate financial duties and ensures internal controls systems work to safeguard the assets of the office to ensure efficient and effective financial functions.
Custodian of the petty cash and proper disbursement of the funds as the request is properly approved.
Creates vouchers for every transaction that is carried out ensuring complete supporting documents.
Posts transactional vouchers to the QuickBooks which will be reviewed by the Senior Finance Officer.
Works with the Senior Officer on the month end financial report to be submitted to EAI Headquarters. That is the monthly/annual country office financial reports and reconciliation of accounts, fund requests, and asset inventory reports.
Works to ensure that program implementation and execution of activities are in compliance with EAI’s internal policies and donors’ regulations.
Supports the Senior Officer where need be on the payroll processing.
Ensures statutory remittances of payroll deductions to the statutory bodies (Board of Internal Revenue, Pension Fund Administrators, National Housing Fund, etc.)
Assists the Program team in the preparation of activity budgets with activity SOWs for project implementation.
Follow up expenditures to make sure they are in line with the budget and call up Senior Officer’s attention where changes or deviations are noticed.
Assist with monthly budget versus actual reports preparation.
In time of procurement, the finance and operations officer searches for vendors that are in line with the policy requirements, runs a watchdog on all of them and submits to the Senior Officer.
Collection of quotes from vendors for the finance department and the relevant team for their comparison and selections.
Sends out call for applications and works with the senior officer in collection of bids, and formulation of bid comparison matrices. The Senior Officer with either committee set up make recommendations for vendor selection in accordance with EAI policies and procedures.
Ensures adherence to EAI and donor policies and procedures in all areas relating to procurement, logistics, and inventory management with guidance from the Senior Officer.
Ensures inventory is kept up to date and in good working conditions and sound inventory control system.
Maintains all project assets and stock items (Inventories) ensuring satisfactory level of accountability and internal control with the knowledge of the Senior Officer; also ensures timely verification of stocks and assets, inventories at the office.
Assists the senior officer in staff hiring process of the country office which includes screening of CVs, shortlisting candidates, organizing interview sessions, and all other processes to select the best candidate.
Works on personnel documentation and filing systems to ensure compliance with the Human Resources Manual.
Works with the senior officer/Manager to ensure compliance with local labor laws and EA policies and guidelines with regards to staff management, travel, and administration.
Works with the senior officer to ensure that country registrations are maintained and renewed as necessary and that all reporting required to local and national government is performed correctly and on time.
Provides recommendations for enhancements on Human Resource manual.
Assists on the yearly holiday update for the country office.
Ensures proper security and safety of the staff members and premises and finalizes security and insurance arrangements as per EAN norm.
Manages the project vehicle administration activities to ensure proper upkeep of Vehicles, proper maintenance and usage as per EAN policies. Also ensures logbooks are accurate and in order to have complete transparency in its usage.
Runs watchdog on vendors, partners, candidates, consultants and clients to ensure they are not on the watch list.
Qualification
Strong communication and interpersonal skills
Excellent English writing skills with fluency in speaking of English and Hausa
Minimum bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business Admin or any related field (Masters degree is an added advantage)
Minimum 3 years of work experience with donor funded programs at the national and/or international level.
Ability to work flexibly, outside of normal office hours and in difficult condition
Good knowledge of finance and operations.
Ability to work and deliver outputs under pressure
Self-motivated and able to recommend constructive solutions to challenges
Demonstrated effective interpersonal skills
- EAI is an equal opportunity employer -
